Real haunted places Pickens county courthouse Carrollton,AL Pickens County Courthouse is haunted by the ghost of a former slave, Henry Wells, who was lynched by a mob after being accused of burning down the second county courthouse. Soon afterward the ghostly image of a face appeared in an upper window of the new third county courthouse, to profess Wells innocence. Supposedly every windowpane in the courthouse was broken in a hailstorm one year, except for that pane. Union troops burned the first courthouse built during the war and Yet, less than twelve years after Union troops had set fire to their first courthouse, the new one burned to a pile of smoldering ruin, apparently the result of a burglary gone wrong. Even as work began on a third courthouse, the townspeople demanded vengeance for the horrible act. Their vengeful eyes finally settled on Henry Wells, a freed slave who lived near the town. Henry Wells was no angel. He was said to have a horrible temper, and there was no denying he had been involved in several brawls. Rumors went even further; people said he constantly carried a straight razor, and was not afraid to use it. Despite the rumors, however, there was only vague circumstantial evidence against him in the burning of the courthouse. But it was Alabama in 1878, and Henry Wells was a black man accused of burning down a symbol of town pride. He was charged and arrested on four counts: arson, burglary, carrying a concealed weapon and assault with intent to murder. Ironically, he was taken to the sheriffs office, located inside the newly completed courthouse, to await trial. As word spread through the town of Wells arrest, the sheriff could sense trouble brewing. The mood of the town seemed as ominous as the dark clouds gathering in the late afternoon sky. As the first few drunken men began heading toward the courthouse, the sheriff took Wells to the high garret of the new courthouse, and told him to keep quiet. But as the angry mob gathered below, Wells fear got the best of him. He went to the window, and looked down on the crowd. He yelled defiantly, at the top of his lungs, I am innocent. If you kill me, I am going to haunt you for the rest of your lives! Just then, a bolt of lightning struck nearby, flashing the image of Wells face, contorted with fear, to the crowd below. The face remains in the courthouse window to this very day. No amount of washing has been able to remove it, and on at least one occasion, it is said that every window pane in the courthouse was broken by a severe hailstorm; every pane, that is, except for the pane from which Wells continues to look down accusingly on the town that put him to death. With all that being said would you believe it that its the face of this freed slave wrongly accused and killed or just think its a made up story? Misery:)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 19:59:04 +0000
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